Tata Power Solar doubles manufacturing capacity in Bengaluru

Tata Power Solar on Tuesday announced that it had doubled its capacity for module manufacturing in Bengaluru. The company launched a fully automated manufacturing unit with capacity for module manufacturing increasing from 200 MW to 400 MW and 65 per cent increase in capacity of cell manufacturing from 180 MW to 300 MW.

Ashish Khanna, executive director and CEO of Tata Power Solar, said that for the automation alone the company has spent more than Rs 100 crore. This is the second expansion by the company in less than three years.

"We plan to have complete capacity usage of the new expansion. The whole unit is now automated and modernised. However, the important thing is that through the process we did not cut our workforce instead re-skilled to use these technologies now," said Khanna. The new capacity has a workforce of 1,000 people.

"This expansion and modernisation has come on the backdrop of our landmark achievement on being the first Indian company to have shipped 1 GW modules worldwide," added Khanna.

The company also believes that by 2020 the consumption of solar power will go to 100 GW.

"The cost has come down. This is mainly because the cost of silicon, which is the raw material, has come down. This is very good and will be an added advantage to the consumers," said Anil Sardana, chairman Tata Power Solar.

Tata Power Solar, rated tier-1 module manufacturer by BNEF (Bloomberg New Energy Fund), has shipped 1 GW modules to over 30 countries, of which more than 60 per cent was shipped in the last five years.

In one of the largest mergers and acquisition in the space of renewable energy, Tata Powers Co Limited had acquired renewable energy division of Welspun Enterprise at Rs 10,000 crore. Through the deal it has acquired 990 MW solar power project assets in India.